List of 6 Manned Moon Landings - History Lists HISTORY LISTS You are here: History Lists · Events · List of 6 Manned Moon Landings ﻿List of 6 Manned Moon Landings All of total 6 manned moon landings to date were a part of the NASA's Apollo program. Running from 1961 to 1972, the objective of the program was to gather as much data as possible from close orbits and manned landings, and of course, get to the Moon before the Soviets and take the lead in space exploration. Below is a list of all 6 manned moon landings with a brief summary of each of the missions. Apollo 11 On July 20, 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 11 became the first manned spacecraft to land safely on the Moon in the area named Mare Tranquillitatis, commonly known as the Sea of Tranquility. The module was manned by Commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. Upon landing, Armstrong called Houston base and reported “The Eagle has landed”. A few hours later, Armstrong stepped onto the surface and reported “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

Aldrin followed minutes later. After a stay of 21 hours and 36 minutes during which the astronauts took photographs, conducted experiments and collected samples of rock and soil, they lifted off. The lunar module then docked with the orbiting command module that was piloted by Michael Collins. On July 24, the craft splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. The astronauts were recovered by the U.S.S. Hornet. Apollo 12 The second manned lunar landing took place on November 19, 1969. The lunar module of Apollo 12, crewed by Commander Charles Conrad and pilot Alan Bean, separated from the orbiting command module piloted by Richard Gordon. The two astronauts landed in the area called Oceanus Procellarum near Surveyor crater, and close to Surveyor 3, an unmanned spacecraft which had landed two and a half years earlier. The two men conducted experiments, took photographs and collected samples. Parts of Surveyor 3 were taken for later examination as well. After 31 hours and 31 minutes, they took off.

After docking with the command module, the lunar module was jettisoned and crashed onto the Moon, causing the first recorded artificial moonquake. The astronauts splashed down safely near American Samoa and were recovered by the U.S.S. Hornet. Apollo 14 The third manned moon landing was made on February 5, 1971, by the lunar module of Apollo 14, crewed by Commander Alan Shepard and pilot Edgar Mitchell. They landed 13 miles (21 kilometers) north of the Fra Mauro crater. The astronauts collected samples, took photographs and conducted experiments, one of them being Shepard striking two golf balls. The lunar module lifted off on February 6, after 33 hours and 31 minutes spent on the Moon’s surface, to dock with the orbiting command module that was piloted by Stuart Roosa. On February 9, the crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, nearly 800 nautical miles south of American Samoa where they were recovered by the U.S.S. New Orleans. That was the last time recovered astronauts were quarantined.

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 was the fourth manned lunar landing which took place on July 30, 1971. After separating from the orbiting command module that was piloted by Alfred Worden, Commander David Scott and pilot James Irwin landed in the Mare Imbrium area, close to the Montes Apenninus. Scientific experiments were carried out, photographs taken and samples collected. The Lunar Rover was used for the first time, allowing the astronauts to explore a much larger area. After 66 hours and 55 minutes, the lunar module took off to dock with the command module. During the descent to Earth, one of the three parachutes didn’t open properly. Despite that, the craft splashed down safely 330 miles north of Honolulu. The astronauts were recovered by the U.S.S. Okinawa. Apollo 16 The fifth manned moon landing was made on April 21, 1972, by the lunar module of Apollo 16 that was commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke. They landed in the Descartes area north of the Dolland crater, leaving pilot Thomas Mattingly in charge of the orbiting command module.

The astronauts traveled 16.7 miles (27 kilometers) in the Lunar Rover vehicle, collecting samples and taking photographs as well as carrying out various experiments. On April 24, after a stay of 71 hours and 21 minutes, the lunar module lifted off and docked with the command module. On April 27, the crew splashed down some 200 miles southeast of Christmas Island where they were recovered by the U.S.S. Ticonderoga. Apollo 17 The last manned landing on the Moon to date, which took place on December 11, 1972, was made by Commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt who was also the first scientist on the Moon. Undocking from the command module piloted by Ronald Evans, Schmitt guided the spacecraft to land in the valley of Taurus Littrow, close to the southeastern edge of the Mare Serenitatis crater. They used a Lunar Rover vehicle to travel 18.6 miles (30 kilometers), collecting samples, taking photographs and conducting experiments. On December 14, after a 75-hour long stay, they lifted off and docked with the command module.

On December 19, the astronauts successfully splashed down southeast of the Samoan Islands where they were recovered by the U.S.S. Ticonderoga. Apollo 17 (AS-512) | National Air and Space Museum Apollo 17 (AS-512) The Last Manned Lunar Landing Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission to land men on the Moon. It carried the only trained geologist to walk on the lunar surface, lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt. Compared to previous Apollo missions, Apollo 17 astronauts traversed the greatest distance using the Lunar Roving Vehicle and returned the greatest amount of rock and soil samples. Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, still holds the distinction of being the last man to walk on the Moon, as no humans have visited the Moon since December 14, 1972. Summary of Events The successful Apollo 17 manned lunar landing mission was the last in a series of three J-type missions planned for the Apollo Program.

The J-type missions have been characterized by extended hardware capability, by a scientific payload larger than the previous G- and H-series missions and by use of a battery powered lunar roving vehicle (LRV). As a result of these additions, the Apollo 17 mission had a duration of 12.6 days, and a time on the lunar surface of 75 hr with a total surface traverse distance of approximately 35 km. The Saturn V carrying Apollo 17 was launched from NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center at 05:33:00 UT on December 7, 1972 (11:33:00 p.m. CST on December 6, 1972). View of Apollo 17 Landing SiteThe landing site was on the southeastern rim of Mare Serenitatis in a dark deposit between massif units of the southwestern Montes Taurus. Scientific objectives included geological surveying and sampling of materials and surface features in a preselected area of the Taurus-Littrow region, deploying and activating surface experiments, and conducting inflight experiments and photographic tasks during lunar orbit and transearth coast.

Lunar orbit insertion, executed at 19:47:23 GMT on December 10, placed the spacecraft into a lunar orbit of 170.0 by 52.6 nautical miles. Following a nominal descent sequence, the spacecraft landed at 19:54:57 GMT on December 11 in a valley at Taurus-Littrow, less than 200 m from the preferred landing point. The first lunar surface EVA began at 23:54:49 GMT on December 11, with Cernan stepping out of the spacecraft at 00:01:00 GMT on December 12. Deployment of the Apollo lunar-surface experiments package (ALSEP) and the cosmic ray experiment took place during EVA-1. Duration of this EVA was 7 hr 12 min. Schmitt collects samplesThe second EVA began at 23:28:06 GMT on December 12. Using the LRV, samples from Nansen Crater, Lara Crater and others were collected. Traverses, core samples and trenches were dug at different stations.

This EVA lasted 7 hr 37 min. Lunar Roving VehicleDuring EVA-3, sampling stops were made and traverse gravimeter measurements were taken. Additional explosive packages for the Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment were also deployed. One of the final science activities was the retrieval of the neutron flux probe from the deep drill core hole. The third EVA ended at 05:40:56 GMT on December 14. TV View of LM liftoffThe LM ascent stage lifted off the Moon at 22:54:37 GMT on December 14. Lift-off and ascent were recorded by the ground-commanded television assembly on the LRV. After docking with the CSM, the ascent stage was sent back to the lunar surface. Its impact was recorded by the four Apollo 17 geophones and by each ALSEP at the Apollo 12, 14, 15 and 16 landing sites. From NASA SP-330, Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report and Apollo 17 Press Kit, Release No: 72-220K NASA - Lunar Exploration: Past and Future Lunar Exploration: Past and Future By Paul D.

Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute The moon has held our imaginations for millennia, yet it is only in modern times that we have visited this body, first with robotic machines and then with astronauts. Exploration of the moon has taught us much about the evolution of the solar system and ourselves. We’ve known for centuries about the effects on tides and biological cycles from a waxing and waning moon. But it took space-age exploration to show us how the moon is connected to human existence on a very fundamental level. The Space Age arrives: Robots to the moon Exploration at its greatest - Geologist-astronaut Jack Schmitt standing next to a huge, split boulder during the Apollo 17 exploration of the Taurus-Littrow landing site in December 1972. Schmitt and Gene Cernan were the last two astronauts to explore the moon in the 20th century. With the shocking launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957, the moon changed from a distant silver disk in the sky to a real place, a probable destination for probes and people. The Soviets struck first, flying Luna 1 by the moon in January 1959.

They followed this success with a number of other robotic probes, culminating later the same year with Luna 3, which photographed the far side of the moon, never visible from Earth. From these early, poor quality images, we discovered that the far side has surprisingly little of the dark, smooth mare plains that cover about a third of the near side. Other surprises would soon follow. In response to the 1961 flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The Apollo program greatly accelerated interest in exploring the moon. To ensure that human crews could safely land and depart from the lunar surface, it was important to understand its environment, surface and processes. At the same time, the robotic precursors would collect valuable information, constituting the first scientific exploration of another planetary body. Robotic precursors - From top to bottom the Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter spacecraft and the images they provided of the lunar surface. America’s first step was the Ranger series of hard landers. These probes were designed to photograph the lunar surface at increasing levels of detail before crashing into the surface.

After several heartbreaking failures, Ranger 7 succeeded in sending back detailed television pictures of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds) in July 1964. From the Ranger probes, we discovered that craters, those strange holes that pepper the lunar surface, range down in size to the very limits of resolution. Micrometeorite bombardment has ground up the surface rocks, creating a fine powder (called regolith). Two more Ranger spacecraft flew to the moon, culminating with the 1965 Live From the Moon television images from Ranger 9, careening into the spectacular lunar crater Alphonsus. We got a much closer look at the moon’s surface in early 1966. Again, the U.S.S.R. led the way by safely soft-landing the robotic Luna 9 spacecraft on the mare plain, Oceanus Procellarum. It found the surface to be powdery dirt strewn with a few rocks, but strong enough to support the weight of a landed spacecraft. In May 1966, the United States followed with the landing of the complex robotic spacecraft, Surveyor 1. It sent television pictures back to Earth, showing the surface and its physical properties in detail.

Later Surveyor missions (five in all), collected physical data on soil properties, including its chemical composition. Analysis of the lunar surface showed that the dark maria had a composition similar to terrestrial basalt, a dark iron-rich lava, while the highlands near the very fresh rayed crater Tycho were lighter in color and strangely enriched in aluminum. This led to an astonishing revelation about the moon’s early history after the first physical samples were later returned to Earth by the Apollo 11 crew. The final robotic missions mapped the entire moon from orbit for the first time and obtained extremely high resolution pictures of potential landing sites, certifying their safety for the Apollo missions to follow. This U.S. Lunar Orbiter series conducted five mapping missions, whereby boulders as small as a couple of meters could be seen. They also obtained amazing views of scientifically interesting targets, such as the first “pilot’s eye” view of the large, brightly rayed crater Copernicus, dubbed the “picture of the century” by news reporters. More “pictures of the century” were soon to be obtained by people walking on the moon. From these robotic missions, we learned that the moon was cratered and pitted at all scales.

The surface was powdery dust but strong enough to support the weight of people and machines. The moon had no global magnetic field or atmosphere and was made up of common rock types, similar to those found on Earth. Now the stage was set for the next giant leap in understanding lunar and planetary history. Apollo: The Humans Follow Under the microscope - Returned Apollo lunar samples include: top left, a slowly cooled igneous rock from Taurus-Littrow valley (Apollo 17). Bottom left, a mare basalt lava from the Ocean of Storms (Apollo 12). Top right, soil fragments from the Sea of Tranquility (Apollo 11). Bottom right, emerald green glass (volcanic ash) from Hadley Rille (Apollo 15). Apollo was the finest hour of America’s space program. In just eight years, we had gone from zero human spaceflight capability to landing men on the surface of the moon. From these missions, scientists developed a new view of the origin and evolution of the planets and of life on Earth. The 1968 Christmastime flight of Apollo 8 was a milestone – humans left low Earth orbit and reached the moon, circling it for almost a day.

For the first time, people gazed on the moon from orbit. They found it desolate and gray, but saw nothing to prevent journeying the final 62 miles to the surface. In May of 1969, Apollo 10 orbited the moon, testing the lunar lander. It was a dress rehearsal for the manned landing to come. Each of the Apollo missions – and the astronauts who remained in the orbiting Command Module during the subsequent landed missions – took hundreds of high-resolution photographs of the moon’s surface. Their visual observations added to the burgeoning knowledge of lunar geology. In a harrowing descent marked by program alarms from an overloaded computer and freezing fuel lines, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in Apollo 11 safely landed in Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) on July 20, 1969. They walked on the moon for over 2 hours, collecting rocks and soil and laying out experiment packages. From the Apollo 11 samples, we learned that the dark maria are ancient volcanic lavas, having crystallized over 3.6 billion years ago.

Lunar samples are similar in chemical composition to Earth rocks but extremely dry, with no evidence for any significant water on the moon, past or present. Small bits of white rock were found in the soil, blasted to the site from distant highlands. Combined with the earlier results of the Surveyor 7 chemical analysis at the crater Tycho, scientists reasoned that the ancient moon had been nearly completely molten, covered in a layer of liquid rock. This idea of an early “magma ocean” has since been applied to all the rocky planets. Micrometeorite bombardment ground up the bedrock and gases from the sun were implanted on the surfaces of the lunar dust grains. While preserved on the moon, most of this ancient, shared history has been lost on our geologically active Earth. Roving Hadley Delta - Apollo 15 astronaut David R. Scott studies a boulder on the slope of Hadley Delta during one of three long excursions using the lunar rover in July-August 1971. In November 1969, Apollo 12 touched down in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), near the previously landed Surveyor 3 spacecraft.

This mission demonstrated our ability to precisely land on the moon, a skill critical for navigating to future sites in the highlands and rugged areas. Astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean explored the site in two moonwalks. They collected over 75 pounds of samples and deployed a nuclear-powered experiment package. Lavas from this landing site are slightly younger than those of Apollo 11, but still over 3.1 billion years old. The highland component here is different from that of the first landing; it has an unusual enrichment in radioactive and rare-earth elements, suggesting that the moon’s crust is laterally variable and complex. As a bonus, the crew also returned a light colored soil, possibly part of a “ray” cast-off and flung outward during the formation of the distant crater Copernicus – 186 miles north of the landing site. Dating of glass from this soil suggests that Copernicus is “only” 900 million years old, ancient by Earth standards but one of the youngest major features on the moon. The explosion of an oxygen tank on Apollo 13 prevented it from landing on the moon. The three-man crew returned safely to Earth — a memorable saga closely followed around the world.

Apollo 14 was sent to a highlands site east of Apollo 12, near the ancient crater Fra Mauro. This site was chosen to collect rocks blasted out from deep within the moon by the formation of the giant Imbrium impact basin, a crater over 620 miles in diameter and situated 3,723 miles north of the landing site. Astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell conducted two moonwalks on the lunar surface. Towing a pull-cart filled with tools, they returned over 95 pounds of rock and soil. Samples from the Fra Mauro highlands are breccias (complex mixtures of ancient rocks), broken and crushed by the giant impact that created the Imbrium basin. From these samples, scientists learned the Imbrium impact occurred more than 3.8 billion years ago, before the dark mare lavas flooded the moon’s surface but well after the formation of the moon’s crust over 4.4 billion years ago. After this third landing, a new picture of lunar evolution was emerging. The moon was not a simple lump of cold meteorite nor was it an active volcanic inferno, but a planetary body with its own complex, subtle history.

From the Moon to Earth - Samples of some 50 lunar meteorites known to have struck Earth. In July 1971, with Apollo 15, NASA began the first of three what were termed "J" missions – long duration stays on the moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible previously. Apollo 15, whose lunar module Falcon spent three days on the lunar surface, was the first mission to use a lunar rover — a small electric cart that allowed the crew to travel many kilometers away from their landing craft. On three lunar rover excursions Dave Scott and Jim Irwin explored the beautiful Hadley-Apennine landing site — a valley at the base of the main rim of the huge Imbrium basin that included both mare and highland rocks. The crew returned the “Genesis Rock,” composed almost entirely of a single mineral (plagioclase feldspar), representing the most ancient crustal rocks on the moon. They also found small fragments of an emerald green glass, formed when magma from the deep mantle explosively erupted through the crust in a spray of lava.

They sampled the mare bedrock at the edge of Hadley Rille, a giant canyon and ancient lava channel, formed over 3.3 billion years ago. The Apollo 15 mission obtained over 80 kilograms of samples and its command module carried chemical sensors and cameras that mapped almost 20 percent of the moon’s surface from orbit. Full moon - Top: Topographic map of the moon’s near and far sides obtained by Clementine in 1994. Lunar prospecting - Bottom: The Lunar Prospector mission in 1998 pinpointed concentrations of the element thorium. Photo credits: Paul Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute Apollo 16 was sent to the ancient crater Descartes, deep in the lunar highlands in April 1972. Astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke spent three days exploring the site. They traveled over 18 miles and collected more than 206 pounds of samples. They deployed and operated the first astronomical telescope on the moon. The highlands rocks, almost all breccias, attest to a long and complicated history of repeated impacts from space.

Ancient crustal rocks, similar to the Genesis Rock of Apollo 15, were also found. One puzzling observation by the crew was the measurement of a very strong magnetic field on the surface. Even though the moon has no global magnetic field, some lunar samples have remnant magnetism, suggesting that they cooled in the presence of strong fields. Although we still do not understand lunar magnetism, with the flight of Lunar Prospector 26 years later, the Apollo 16 result would become a little clearer. The last human mission to the moon to date, Apollo 17, was sent to the edge of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity) -- another combination mare/highland site -- in December 1972. Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt (the first professional geologist sent to the moon) spent three days thoroughly exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley. They returned over 242 pounds of samples and deployed a set of new surface experiments. They made startling and significant discoveries. The crew found 3.6-billion-year old orange volcanic ash.

From the mountains, they returned crustal rocks and complex breccias created during the impact that formed the Serenitatis basin almost 3.9 billion years ago. Lavas at this site are over 3.6 billion years old, documenting at least a 700-million-year span of lava flooding on the moon. The Apollo missions revolutionized planetary science. The early solar system was one of colliding planets, melted surfaces and exploding volcanoes — a complex and violent geologic mixture. The concept of an “early bombardment” 3.9 billion years ago is now widely accepted for all the planets, but the actual evidence comes from study of the lunar samples. The constant rain of micrometeorites grinds away all airless planetary surfaces, albeit this sandblaster is extremely slow (the moon erodes at a rate of roughly 1 millimeter per million years.) While Apollo did a magnificent job of outlining lunar history, more surprises were waiting to be unveiled. The Robots Return: Clementine and Lunar Prospector In the 1990s, two small robotic missions were sent to the moon.

For 71 days in 1994, the joint NASA-Strategic Defense Initiative Organization Clementine mission orbited the moon, testing sensors developed for space-based missile defense, as well as mapping the color and shape of the moon. From Clementine, we documented the enormous south pole-Aitken impact basin, a hole in the moon 1, 616 miles across and over 8 miles deep. This basin is so large, it may have excavated the entire crust down to the mantle. The color data from Clementine, combined with Apollo sample information, allows us to map regional compositions, creating the first true “rock map” of the moon. Finally, Clementine gave us a tantalizing hint that permanently dark areas near the south pole of the moon may contain frozen water deposited over millions of years by impacting comets. Soon after Clementine, the Lunar Prospector spacecraft mapped the moon’s surface from orbit during its mission in 1998 and 1999. These data, combined with those from Clementine, gave scientists global compositional maps showing the complicated crust of the moon. Lunar Prospector also mapped the surface magnetic fields for the first time.

The data showed that the Apollo 16 Descartes highlands is one of the strongest magnetic areas on the moon, explaining the surface measurements made by John Young in 1972. The mission also found enhanced quantities of hydrogen at both poles, adding to the lively controversy over the welcome prospect for lunar ice. The moon throws stones at us: Lunar meteorites Shackleton crater outpost - Future lunar explorers will likely build an outpost on the rim of Shackleton crater near the moon’s south pole. In 1982, we made a startling discovery. A meteorite found in Antarctica, ALHA 81005, is from the moon! The rock is a complex regolith breccia, similar to those returned by the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. We have since found over 50 meteorites that, as determined from their unique chemical composition, come from the moon. These rocks were blasted off the lunar surface by impacts, then captured and swept up by Earth as it moves through space. The lunar meteorites come from random places all over the moon and they provide data complementary to the Apollo samples and the global maps of composition obtained by Clementine and Lunar Prospector.

The Future and Significance of Lunar Exploration Now we are preparing for humanity’s return to the moon. Over the next couple of years, at least four international robotic missions will orbit the moon, making global maps of unsurpassed quality. We will soft land on the moon, particularly the mysterious polar regions, to map the surface, examine the volatile deposits and characterize the unusual environment there. Ultimately, people will return to the moon. The goals of lunar return this time are not to prove that we can do it (as Apollo did) but to learn how to use the moon to support a new and growing spacefaring capability. On the moon, we will learn the skills and develop the technologies needed to live and work on another world. We will use this knowledge and technology to open the solar system for human exploration. The story of the moon’s history and processes is interesting in its own right, but it has also subtly shifted perspectives on our own origins. One of the most significant discoveries of the 1980s was the giant impact 65 million years ago in Mexico that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, allowing the subsequent rise of mammals.

This discovery (made possible by recognizing and interpreting the telltale chemical and physical signs of hypervelocity impact) came directly from the study of impact rocks and landforms stimulated by Apollo. Scientists now think that impacts are responsible for many, if not most, extinction events in the history of life on Earth. The moon retains this record and we will read it in detail upon our return. By going to the moon, we continue to obtain new insights into how the universe works and our own origins. Lunar exploration revolutionized understanding of the collision of solid bodies. This process, previously thought to be bizarre and unusual, is now viewed as fundamental to planetary origin and evolution – an unexpected connection. By returning to the moon, we anticipate learning even more about our past, and equally importantly, obtaining a glimpse into our future. Apollo 17: The Last Men on the Moon Apollo 17: The Last Men on the Moon By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | August 24, 2012 04:15pm ET MORE Astronaut Eugene Cernan drives the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the first EVA.

Credit: NASA Apollo 17 marked the end of the program that took 12 people to the surface of the moon. By the time the mission launched on Dec. 7, 1972, public interest had declined, the government had shifted its focus to the Vietnam War, and many other factors brought the program to a close, even though three more flights had been planned. Though it was the last manned mission — so far — the moon still had some surprises for humanity to discover. Apollo 17 was the first mission to include a scientist in its crew. Geologist Harrison "Jack" Schmitt was one of the first six scientist-astronauts selected in 1965 amid immense pressure to do so from the National Academy of Sciences, who were worried only test pilots would walk on the moon. Schmitt's presence on the Apollo 17 crew as a lunar module pilot did not come easily. When it came time to select the final crew, Schmitt was chosen over Joe Engle, who was a backup pilot for Apollo 14 and ordinarily would have been next in the rotation to fly. Crewmates Ron Evans and Eugene Cernan were upset for Engle.

However, they were pleased at the capabilities Schmitt — a geologic trainer for other moon-bound astronauts — showed on the job. Evans, the command module pilot, was on his first mission to space. He was on combat duty in Vietnam in April 1966 when he found out he was selected as an astronaut. Evans had not only flown in combat, but also instructed others on how to do so. Commander Cernan, a formal Navy pilot, faced many a crisis in space. On his first flight, Gemini 9, he did a spacewalk that exhausted him because there weren't enough handholds to perform his work in microgravity. On his second flight, Apollo 10, the lunar module briefly spun unpredictably as it did a practice descent to the surface. He was a seasoned pilot and felt ready to command his crew on the most challenging Apollo mission yet. Assessing and accessing the landing site With the latter Apollo missions so focused on science — and with a geologist on board — much consideration went into choosing Taurus-Littrow as Apollo 17's destination. It was geologic variety that tilted the decision to that location.

Points of interest to scientists included Shorty Crater — believed to hold evidence of past volcanic vent — and several large boulders spotted in photographs taken by the Apollo 15 crew. A minor technical error held up launch by almost three hours, but the crew lifted off as planned Dec. 7, 1972. Cernan and Schmitt landed on the surface on lunar module Challenger three days later without major incident, while Evans stayed in the command module, America. Cernan's and Schmitt's first major challenge was when Cernan accidentally broke a wheel fender on their lunar rover. This meant the astronauts were showered in abrasive moon dust as they drove around the surface. Cernan made a partial repair with some duct tape, joking he would like a "mending award." The next day, he and Schmitt taped some maps in place of the fender to better fix the problem. The astronauts also deployed several scientific experiments, most notably a traverse gravimeter. The astronauts carried this experiment on the rover and took it out at several sites to measure the relative gravity, which gave scientists an idea about the lunar substructure.

In lunar orbit, Evans made observations of the surface and kept Mission Control entertained by joking about how much he stunk. A photomicrograph of sphere and fragments in "orange" soil from Apollo 17. Credit: NASA Orange soil and a memorable ending As Cernan and Schmitt worked near the rim of Shorty Crater on the second day, Schmitt exclaimed that he could see orange soil. In Cernan's autobiography, he said he feared Schmitt "has been up here too long and has overdosed on rocks." But when Cernan clambered over to take a look, he could see the soil was indeed that color. Later examination on Earth showed the rocks were tiny spheres of colored glass that probably came from a surface vent. After one more day racing the clock to do all the science they could, the lunar crew packed their gear and prepared to climb into Challenger for the last time. Alone on the surface, Cernan gave a short speech, concluding, "I'd just like to record that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow ...

Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17." Evans got a chance to do a quick spacewalk on the way back to Earth, retrieving some film canisters mounted outside America. The crew splashed down Dec. 19 in the South Pacific Ocean. The 22 hours of lunar exploration Apollo 17 performed, in the words of spaceflight author Andrew Chaikin, pushed Apollo to its limit. The astronauts drove around about 34 kilometers in the lunar rover. They brought back 108 kilograms of lunar rocks. The Apollo 17 astronauts also left behind a plaque that read: "Here Man completed his first exploration of the Moon, December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind." More importantly, the astronauts showed the possibilities of science to millions of Earthlings and inspired many youngsters to become scientists, engineers and astronauts themselves. Related: Last Lunar Landing Launched 40 Years Ago Last Lunar Landing Launched 40 Years Ago By Robert Z.

Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor | December 7, 2012 07:19am ET MORE Apollo 17 lights the night: NASA’s last lunar landing mission lifted off at 12:33 a.m. EST on Dec. 7, 1972, 40 years ago. Credit: NASA Apollo 17, the last of the missions to land men on the moon, began 40 years ago today with the dawning of a man-made sun. Lifting off just after midnight (EST) on Dec. 7, 1972, the Apollo 17 mission was the final of NASA's moon-bound manned flights — and the first night launch. The massive, 363-foot tall (111 meters) Saturn 5 rocket turned night into day as the long flames from its five powerful F-1 engines bathed the dark sky with a brilliant, bright-as-the-sun light that appeared to spectators to slowly climb skyward from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Onboard the mighty moon booster were three astronauts.

Eugene Cernan, a veteran of two prior missions including the "dress rehearsal" for the first lunar landing three years earlier, commanded Apollo 17 and flew the lunar module "Challenger" to a landing in the Taurus-Littrow valley. Ronald Evans served as the pilot of the command module "America" that remained in lunar orbit until it was time for the three voyagers to return to Earth. [ Lunar Legacy: 45 Apollo Moon Mission Photos ] And lunar module pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, who like Evans marked another first with the launch of Apollo 17 — his first time in space. That it was also the last time, to date, that anyone would embark for the moon , was less of a pressing concern. "I do not particularly recall at that time, prior to the launch, having thoughts that it was specifically the last mission," Schmitt told collectSPACE.com in an interview by phone this week.

"I certainly don't think I felt any more pressure, nor do I think anybody did in that regard." "These missions take on a life of their own, other than as we left the moon, when I think both [Cernan and I] had the awareness that it would be the last one, [judging] from our comments that we made on the surface," he added. Landing at Taurus-Littrow four days after they launched, Cernan and Schmitt remained on the surface for just over three days, the longest duration lunar expedition to date. Like the two Apollo missions that preceded Apollo 17, the astronauts had a "moon buggy," the Lunar Roving Vehicle or lunar rover, to extend the distance they could traverse across the rocky valley. Before leaving the moon, Cernan proclaimed, "America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind." Apollo 17's legacy: more than just the last Unlike being the first on the moon, the Apollo 17 mission's status as the last is temporary.

"Somebody will [return to the moon], it makes too much sense," Schmitt said. "Now, humankind has been able to ignore common sense in other circumstances. But when it comes to exploration, there really is a direct or indirect pressure on humans to continue." When that day comes, whether it be through a government or commercial-led expedition, the emphasis on Apollo 17's legacy will change. "From a scientific point of view, the [lunar] samples we brought back have played an important part in the ongoing debates on various aspects of lunar origin and evolution. But that's basically true of the samples from all six landing missions," said Schmitt. "Ours in particular, relate directly to evaluating hypotheses for the [moon's] origin because of the discovery of volcanic glass — the orange soil." "There is orange soil!" Schmitt excitedly declared in 1972 while standing on the moon. "It's all over! Orange!" The finest particles ever brought back from the moon, the microscopic glass beads with a distinctly orange tint, were created by volcanic processes early in the moon's history.

"That may turn out, if you consider the origin of the moon a primary question, to be very important," Schmitt stated, adding that the moon's geological history provides insight into the evolution of the Earth, when the "precursors to life were forming and potentially even life itself was getting started." That Schmitt can remark on the scientific legacy of Apollo 17 points to another of the mission's legacies. He was the first scientist — a professional geologist — to launch on a NASA mission. "I think from a space history perspective, the legacy of Apollo 17, for the U.S. and representing humankind, was putting the first trained, professional scientist onto the surface of another planet," Schmitt said. "Even though we were doing a good deal of training to bring the pilots up to speed, they were professional pilots and appropriately so during early Apollo [flights]. But then we finally started to recognize that people experienced and trained in other professions had a role in space." "That was finally demonstrated with Apollo 17. It led to flying scientists on the Skylab [orbital workshop], and to having scientists and engineers, not the pilots, as a major component of the shuttle and space station programs," he added.

Roger Launius, senior curator of space history at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, writes: "I like the attached photo from Apollo 17. This image of Harrison Schmitt with the lunar rover makes clear one reason Apollo was never followed with additional moon landing efforts. Humanity found nothing there of value that they wished to exploit, as had happened repeatedly in previous terrestrial explorations. Schmitt and artifacts from Earth are swallowed up in the vast expanse of nothingness that was on the lunar surface. Buzz Aldrin called it 'magificent desolation.' He was right." Credit: NASA Looking back at Taurus-Littrow Forty years later, Schmitt says there are still stories about Apollo 17 to be discovered, if you know where to look. "There is a lot that has not been told," he remarked. "It is not that it is not available, because the [flight] transcripts are publicly available and basically they are the notes of the missions, as if I was taking handwritten notes, except I was doing it verbally and so were the other astronauts on the other missions.

It just hasn't been looked at so that the public would be aware of the various stories and things that can be and are told in the transcripts." NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which since arriving in lunar orbit in 2009 has been returning imagery of the Apollo landing sites, including Taurus-Littrow , has also provided "various stories" about Apollo 17 — even some new to Schmitt.

Question: What was the number of the last manned moon mission
Answer: Apollo 17